“The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship Programme is launched in connection with the International Outreach Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

It provides funding opportunities for up to 120 students/scholars from the countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road) to pursue Master degrees at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) around China up to 3 years.

b)Monthly stipend to cover accommodation, local transportation expenses, health insurance, and other basic living expenses (Reference: RMB 4000 per month, within which RMB 1000 is provided by UCAS faculty/CAS institute).

Duration:

The funding duration of the fellowship is up to 3 years (with NO EXTENSION), divided into:

a)Maximum 1 year study of courses and participation in centralized training at UCAS, including 4 months compulsory courses in Chinese Language and Chinese Culture;

b)Practical research and completion of degree thesis at colleges and schools of UCAS or CAS institutes.

General conditions for applicants:

•Be citizens from the Belt and Road countries other than China;

•Be healthy and maximum age of 30 years on 31 December 2018;

•Hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent educational degree;

•Be with excellent academic achievements, keen on scientific research and have good personal characters;

•Get acceptance by a host supervisor and approval by the UCAS faculty/CAS institute that the supervisor is affiliated with;

•Be proficient in English or Chinese. Applicants whose native language is not English should provide unexpired TOEFL or IELTS scores. TOEFL scores should be 90 or higher, and IELTS scores should be 6.5 or higher. Applicants are not required to submit a TOEFL or IELTS score only if their:

a) Native language is English, or

b) Major undergraduate courses are conducted in English/Chinese, which should be stated in transcripts, or

c) New HSK Band 5 passed with over 200 scores.

•Meet other application requirements for Master’s programs of UCAS.

Step By Step Guideline

In order to successfully apply for CAS “The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship, applicantsare requested to follow a few key steps that are indicated below:

1. CHECK ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

You should verify that you are eligible and meet ALL the eligibility criteria specified in the “General conditions for applicants” section of this call (e.g. age, bachelor’s degree, etc).

See here for a list of eligible supervisors affiliated with UCAS faculties/CAS institutes.

Once you find an eligible professor of your interest, you must contact him/her, send an explanatory e-mail together with your CV, research proposal and any other required documents to him/her, and indicate that you wish to apply for CAS “The Belt and Road” Master Fellowship.

Applications for both admission and fellowship shall be submitted via the Online Application System for International Students of UCAS (http://adis.ucas.ac.cn) which would be officially launched around Dec. 15, 2017. Please prepare and upload the following materials to the system. Make sure the electronic version of supporting documentation is in the right format as requested for the online application system.

• Your regular passport which has at least 2 years validity (only pages showing personal and validity details are needed);

• Your recent full-face bust photo with 2-inch;

• Complete CV with a brief introduction of research experience;

• Original copy of Bachelor’s degree certificates；

Applicants who are still in the process of completing their bachelor’s degree upon the application deadline must provide confirmation of degree conferral from their current institutions, including the expected date of graduation.

• Original copy of their undergraduate study;

• Proof of knowledge of English and/or Chinese;

• Detailed research proposal;

• Photocopies of all the title pages and abstracts of maximum 5 published academic papers (if available). Please do not provide photocopies of unpublished papers;

• TWO reference letters (NOT the host supervisor) familiar with you and your work (signed, dated and on official headed paper with contact phone number and email address)

• Foreigner Physical Examination Form

4. REMIND YOUR SUPERVISOR TO COMPLETE THE SUPERVISOR’S COMMENT PAGE AND SEND IT TO THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS OFFICE OF UCAS BY THE UCAS FACULTY/CAS INSTITUTE WHICH HE/SHE IS AFFILIATED WITH BEFORE DEADLINE.

Please note:

•Applicants can ONLY apply to ONE eligible supervisor affiliated with UCAS faculty or CAS institute.

•Please choose major, host supervisor and host institute cautiously before submission. After enrollment at UCAS, applications for the change of these items are seldom considered.

•Applicants must make sure that all the information filled and documents uploaded in the online system are authentic and effective, otherwise they should undertake all the relevant consequences.

•All the application documents must be in English or Chinese. If any of these are not available in English or Chinese, original documents must be accompanied by certified English or Chinese translations. All translations must be literal and complete versions of the original documents.

•A lack of application documents or unsatisfactory documents will not be accepted and none of the documents will be returned regardless of the application status.

•Please DO NOT send any of your application documents directly to the International Students Office of UCAS.

Application Deadline

March 31, 2018

Notification of Decision and Visa Application

The admission decisions will be made normally in May to June. The offers of admissions, award letters and other documents will be conveyed afterwards.

Awardees shall take the following documents to the Embassy or Consulate of the People's Republic of China, and apply for a student visa (X1/X2 visa):

•Personal passports as used for application

•Admission Notice

•Visa Application Form (JW202)

•Physical Examination Record for Foreigners

•Other original reports from the physical examination

Please keep safe of the original Admission Notice and Visa Application Form (JW202). They are essential in the application for the Permanent Residence Permit upon registration. Please do not apply for visa waiver or other types of visa.

Additional Information

•Awardees must register at the time and place indicated in the Admission Notice. Otherwise, they should apply for extension of their registration.

•Awardees must show the original copies of Bachelor’s degree certificate and transcript to International Students Office.

•The duration of the fellowship is stated explicitly in the Admission Notice.

•The fellowship can be retained for no longer than 2 months since the deadline of the registration.

•Awardees receive monthly stipend from UCAS since the registration day. Those who register before the 15th of a given month (including 15th) receive a full-month stipend, while those register after the 15th of a given month receive a half-month stipend.

•Registered awardees must abide by relevant rules and regulations of the universities, and attend reviews and examinations, such as the qualifying tests on time. Awardees who fail review or examination will be deprived of their fellowship or their fellowship will be suspended.

•Any work produced and published by the awardees during the funding period of the fellowship must be credited to the institute/school and the university where the awardees are enrolled. Awardees are also required to acknowledge “Sponsored by CAS the ‘Belt and Road’ Master Fellowship Program and CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI)” in written dedication.